Archbishop (4)

Archbishop (4)

The moment the spatial expansion magic is canceled.

The point explosions that had been piled up inside the rabbit-masked guy start to detonate in a chain reaction, engulfing the entire surroundings.

As I watch the mana around me collapse and disappear in an instant, thinking that the attack power is quite decent,

I see the Archbishop walking out of the ash-filled smoke, covered in blue blood.

While I’m thinking that the Archbishop’s stamina is truly impressive, as expected,

The Archbishop spits out blood and starts to mutter something.

“… How strange. How strange.”

Not understanding what he means, I just silently watch.

The Archbishop slowly wipes the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, stares at me intently,

And then utters a brief question.

“You… what exactly are you?”

That question, filled with genuine incomprehension.

It seems that from the Archbishop’s perspective, my very existence was questionable.

So I briefly answered him with the truth.

“Deren.”

“……”

Of course, I’m not sure if that was the answer she wanted.

I reached out my hand towards the Archbishop, who was looking at me with a complex mix of emotions, and said.

“Now that the greetings are over, let’s get started.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the Archbishop tried to stop everything around us.

I lightly pushed it away with mana and briefly said.

“Using it over a wide range weakens its power.”

“……”

My provocation seems to irritate her slightly, as her eyebrow twitches.

I observed her reaction and then activated spatial distortion magic.

Everything around us loses its shape, melting or breaking apart.

I watch as everything I see becomes ‘puzzle pieces’ and then seems to crumble, when.

The Archbishop desperately presses down on her own body as it breaks apart and melts, shouting something.

“Time distortion!”

With that one word, the collapsed things begin to return to their original state.

I watch with interest as the Archbishop’s body quickly returns to normal, and then.

This time, I activate a point explosion and say.

“Powerful regeneration ability plus the power to turn back time… I can see why others might view the Archbishop as an omnipotent being with such abilities.”

“……”

She seems unwilling to engage in conversation with me, blatantly ignoring my words while blocking the point explosion.

I observe the Archbishop’s behavior for a moment, considering.

Then, deciding to capture her as well, I flicked my mace.

‘Especially the magic of time distortion seems worth researching.’

More than anything else, the ability to ‘turn back time and recover’ looks very appealing, so I’m somewhat tempted.

After all, I’ve mainly learned combat magic.

In case of severe injuries, I had no other means of recovery.

‘Until now, there hasn’t been a situation where I needed it.’

Deciding to learn this in case it’s needed in the future.

While analyzing the magic, I caused a point explosion and launched myself into the air.

‘For now, the time distortion magic is quite limited.’

Unlike in novels or movies where ‘everything’ goes back to the past.

It only returns a part to a few seconds ago.

I closed my eyes, thinking that it’s closer to the concept of restoration rather than turning back time.

‘Well, whatever the case, there’s only one important thing.’

I’m not sure how much that guy can use time distortion magic.

But if he can continuously use time distortion with his vast magical energy…

‘He would endlessly revive.’

Even if my mana runs out, it would continue.

Having reached this conclusion, I slowly turned my gaze to look at the Archbishop.

I’m not sure if he felt a sense of crisis or if he was angered by the continuous attacks.

Now, it seems he’s decided to face me properly, as I noticed him gathering the scattered corpses nearby into one place.

‘Can he use Necromancer-related skills, like his subordinates?’

Time distortion with necromancer skills.

I continued my thoughts, thinking it was quite a fitting combination in many ways.

‘In any case, one thing is certain. Dealing ambiguous damage isn’t a very good option.’

As the battle of attrition would become more disadvantageous for me. It would be right to do so.

So I decided to use a ‘new’ method instead of the one I had been using, and took a light deep breath.

‘Normally, it would take a long time of research to use such magic.’

But since the situation doesn’t allow it now, I decided to use a bit of a trick.

‘Using one of the previously learned spells as a base…’

It would be good to apply this to create a new spell.

‘Then, how should I create it?’

If possible, something much more powerful than the point explosion.

While thinking it would be good to have a spell that could be used against the Archbishop without difficulty,

Suddenly, a good idea flashed through my mind.

‘Certainly, when I sent the point explosion into the body of that rabbit mask guy earlier, its power was tremendous.’

An incredible power that could even collapse the surrounding mana for a moment.

Unfortunately, despite having such power, it was impossible to instantly kill the Archbishop.

But I thought that if I modified this, it might be possible to instantly kill that Archbishop.

‘So I think I need to add something more to this.’

While I was pondering what to add, a voice was heard from the front.

“… I’ll kill you here. And eliminate everything that stands in the way of the Heaven God Cult.”

If someone saw this, they might think I’m the villain.

I chuckle as I watch her spout oddly righteous lines.

The Archbishop creates a massive sword from the flesh he gathered earlier and rushes towards me, shouting.

“Time Distortion.”

Just like when I used spatial compression magic, he approaches at an incredibly fast speed.

He attacks me, swinging his sword at a speed that’s difficult to follow with the naked eye.

‘As expected of an Archbishop, he’s certainly powerful.’

No matter how fast he moves.

It’s only natural that a barrier would block it, so I tried to deflect it by manifesting a shield.

“Time Distortion.”

With that brief utterance, my magic reverts to ‘before use,’ and my barrier disappears.

Thinking I’ve encountered quite an interesting fellow.

This time, I use spatial expansion magic to increase the ‘distance’ between us, forcing the Archbishop far away.

“……!”

He probably didn’t expect me to use such magic.

The Archbishop looks quite surprised and immediately tries to cancel my magic by using ‘Time Distortion’ again.

‘I won’t fall for the same trick twice.’

Before he can, I crush his developing Time Distortion with Mana and say.

“How monotonous.”

I meant it literally.

Despite his strength, it seems he hasn’t fought many battles.

The combat style is extremely simple and repetitive.

‘Because of that, the combat difficulty is actually easier than fighting the bishops.’

Of course, it’s relatively easier to deal with, but their magical power and abilities are so superior that they can eliminate all those bad points.

While thinking about this and firing a point explosion before quickly retreating.

Suddenly, another interesting thought crossed my mind.

‘What would happen if I mixed point explosions into the illusion maze?’

Countless attacks created by mixing real and illusory ones.

… No, what would happen if I struck with that attack where even falsehoods can momentarily become real?

‘Of course, some modifications would be needed here.’

One thing’s for sure, as much as I can gather and stack point explosions before attacking.

It would show insane power.

As this judgment crossed my mind, I started modifying the spell while observing the figure in front of me.

‘In any case, what I’m creating is an instant death magic formula.’

If possible, it’s important to extract that guy’s magic before using this spell.

So, while modifying this spell, I chuckled at the thought of absorbing that guy’s magic simultaneously.

‘Two things at once… It’ll be quite challenging, but not impossible.’

With that in mind, I slowly move my body, mixing the previous elements while learning the magic in front of me.

Clearly, it’s magic that would take a long time and much effort… no, extraordinary talent to learn.

So acquiring this wasn’t easy, but.

… I was able to learn how to use ‘time distortion’ with the information obtained by tearing apart the opponent’s magic with my hands.

“Time Distortion.”

I slowly observed the time distortion that was constantly approaching me.

Then, I decided to use the acquired time distortion ‘in reverse’ and shouted “Time Distortion.”

The time distortion magic that was being fired disappeared and evaporated.

Just as I was feeling happy that I had figured out how to use it, even if not perfectly yet.

The archbishop in front of me started to back away in horror.

“… You, you monster.”

That voice filled with sincerity.

I slowly walked forward while listening to that voice.